Telemedicine has become a budding discipline in the app development industry. It has become a revolutionary healthcare approach that leverages technology to bridge the gap between patients and convenient healthcare services and has gained significant momentum in the last couple of years, especially post-COVID.
Telemedicine apps use innovative technologies like secure messaging, IoT, real-time data collection, and video conferencing to facilitate virtual consultation between patients and medical professionals, regardless of geographical boundaries.
It’s no wonder that this app genre is piquing the interest of potential investors.
But most of them become hesitant because there’s a lot to figure out. Since telemedicine apps deal with critical patient information, they need to comply with a lot of regulations, and that’s not the only issue. You have to decide on the type, features, technology stack, and development partner.
Above all, you have to consider the cost and carefully weigh your investment options. In short, you need to proceed step-by-step and very carefully. This post aims to make things a little easier for you by highlighting every major aspect of telemedicine app development right from its types, and features to development steps and challenges. But let’s start with the most common question.
WHAT IS A TELEMEDICINE APP?
A telemedicine app is a healthcare software application that facilitates easy and quick accessibility to healthcare services for end users via mobile devices. A telemedicine app provides patients with a secure interface to share their medical history, consult with their preferred physicians and receive a quick diagnosis.
Telemedicine apps envelop a wide range of services that promotes virtual healthcare encounters. One of the biggest advantages of these apps is their ability to provide healthcare services remotely.
This is particularly beneficial for individuals residing in remote areas and having limited access to specialized medical services. With a telemedicine app, patients can connect with medical professionals from the comfort of their homes without them needing to travel extensively or waiting in long queues.
The apps are also in demand as it eases non-emergency routines like regular check-ups and follow-up visits. But it also offers immediate medical services in emergency by establishing rapid communication and providing instant access to medical expertise which can prove life-saving during critical situations.
TYPES OF TELEMEDICINE APPS
Telemedicine apps in healthcare are becoming a hit among both doctors and patients, especially with the latter as the apps are more patient-centered and are means of accessing medical expertise in the easiest way possible.
These apps are divided into various categories depending upon the healthcare services and patient needs they cater to. But, they are mostly classified into three broad categories described below.
1) mHealth Apps
Mobile Health apps (popularly known as mHealth) are applications focused on promoting general wellness among individuals. Most mHealth apps empower individuals with personalized tools and resources that help them take control of their health and well-being, especially those who have chronic conditions.
These apps assist users in maintaining healthy lifestyle choices by providing them with features like fitness tracking, nutrition guidance, and medication reminders.
2) Monitoring Apps
This telemedicine app type assists in remote monitoring of patients’ vitals like glucose levels, blood pressure, and pulse rate. The monitoring apps are integrated with IoT technology like sensors, and wearable devices for supervising health conditions.
These apps prove useful for healthcare providers when they need to track the status of a patient’s health, identify an anomaly and intervene when needed.
3) Teleconsultation Apps
These apps are built exclusively for the facilitation of virtual consultations between patients and medical professionals. Using different virtual communication modes like video calls and online secure texting, patients can discuss their ailments, get treatment recommendations and receive treatment diagnoses, everything in the comfort of home.
Why Invest in Telemedicine App Development?
Now this one’s a million-dollar question. We have seen the basics of telemedicine apps, but the question of concern is why spend your precious money on it. This app genre holds numerous opportunities and benefits for stakeholders. But if you are looking for more compelling reasons, then here are some.
- Demand: The demand for telemedicine services is at an all-time high. Its adoption has increased manifolds post-COVID-19 pandemic and patients are now seeking convenience and easy accessibility.
By investing in a telemedicine app, you can tap into this growing market, meet the vivid and varying needs of patients, and at the same time make a huge profit.
- Better Accessibility: Telemedicine apps surpass geographical boundaries and offer better accessibility to healthcare services, especially for individuals in remote or underserved areas.
Investing in a telemedicine app can expand your reach and provide medical services to a broader population, regardless of their location.
- Evolving with Changing Landscape: The healthcare industry is evolving, and telemedicine applications are increasingly becoming an integral part of it. Having a telemedicine app is an indication of your brand’s compliance with the evolution of technology’s changing landscape.
This in turn will eventually save you from perishing, help you stay ahead of the curve while making your business futuristic, and can give you a competitive edge as well.
- Effective Healthcare Delivery: Telemedicine apps can streamline the entire healthcare delivery process by reducing administrative burdens and optimizing workflow.
They allow immediate scheduling, reduce no-show appointments, and provide secure communication channels. This results in time and cost savings for both patients and healthcare organizations, making it preferable for both.
- Cost Savings: Telemedicine apps can result in drastic healthcare cost reductions for both patients and providers. By minimizing the need for in-person visits, telemedicine reduces travel expenses, decreases healthcare facility overhead costs, and optimizes resource utilization. This cost-effectiveness can benefit patients, healthcare organizations, and payers alike.
Essential Features of a Telemedicine Application
So if you have made up your mind about investing in one, then the very first step is to decide on the most critical features, which is a complex and comprehensive subject.
A telemedicine app can have as many features as possible, but one needs to ensure that the features enhance its overall functionality and serve the purpose of improving patient care. However, regardless of the type, every telemedicine app has certain fixed features that are a must for offering a seamless healthcare experience. The most obvious yet important ones are listed below.
- Registration and Login: Common for both patients and doctors, this feature is needed to create and set up an account. Post registration, however, the patients will need to set up their profile with personal and medical information, while doctors will need to upload their records along with their medical licenses.
- Calendar: Since telemedicine applications include appointment scheduling, the calendar is a must-have feature, again common for both patients and doctors.
- Appointment Scheduling: This feature allows patients to schedule virtual appointments based on doctors’ availability. For this, one will need to provide options for selecting preferred dates, times, and specialties.
- File and Image Sharing: This is a patient-exclusive feature that allows them to upload and share images or documents like test results, medical reports, or photos of specific conditions, with healthcare providers. This feature aids in remote diagnosis and treatment planning.
- Access to Hardware: Your app will offer real-time video and audio calling services for a virtual consultation, which is why it must be hardware-compatible and should be able to access native hardware features like GPS and camera.
- Secure Messaging: As known, both patients and doctors are going to share their personal information over the app, which is why you must ensure that it has a secure messaging system for patients and healthcare providers to exchange text messages, images, and documents.
- Electronic Prescriptions: This one is exclusive to medical professionals and it will enable them to electronically prescribe medications to patients. It will also allow professionals to send prescriptions directly to pharmacies.
- Integration with Electronic Health Records (EHR): A telemedicine app should integrate with existing EHR systems to access patients’ medical history, lab results, and other relevant information during virtual calls.
- Payment Processing: Your app must have secure payment gateways to handle and process service fees, or subscription charges. For this, your app must have tight security protocols and ensure that payment information is encrypted and protected.
- Push Notifications and Reminders: Push notifications and reminders are necessary features for both doctors and patients as they will be alerted about upcoming appointments, medication schedules, or important health updates.
- Multilingual Support: Since most countries today have a diversified population, it is essential to provide multiple language options to cater to it and improve accessibility for non-English speaking patients.
- Telemedicine Visit History: This is another important feature meant for both patients and doctors. It will allow them to maintain past records, including consultation summaries, prescriptions, and follow-up recommendations, for future reference.
- Ratings and Feedback: This one is yet another common feature that will help patients to rate and give their feedback on their experience, helping healthcare providers and app investors improve their services. Doctors can also use this system to rate their overall browsing experience and any other discrepancy regarding consultations.
Important Steps of Telemedicine App Development
The development of telemedicine applications is a highly technical and complex process, not to mention regulatory considerations. It requires meticulous planning along with the right expertise. But to simplify things, here’s a general outline of the process that will give you a fair idea about it.
- Identify Scope: You are probably going to spend a hefty amount on your app and that’s why you must clearly identify the scope and purpose of your telemedicine app. Determine your specific audience as it will help you decide about the key features and functionalities.
- Conduct Market Research: Analyzing the telemedicine market, competition, and user needs is a must. Proper market research will help you Identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation. You will also need to understand the regulatory requirements and compliance standards in your target market.
- Find a Reliable Partner: Building a telemedicine app will need a multidisciplinary team of developers, designers, and project managers. So until and unless you are a pro programmer with all the required resources by your side, you will need to find a reliable development firm.
- Formulate a Development Plan: Build a comprehensive development plan which will outline the app’s architecture, technology stack, and development timeline. Consider the platform(s) you want to target like Android, iOS, or web.
- Choose the technology stack: Based on your preferred platform, you will need to select the appropriate technology stack for your app. For instance, if your app is iOS-exclusive, then Swift is your technology.
But if you choose cross-platform, you might want to consider Flutter or Xamarin. You also need to consider and decide on the backend infrastructure required to support your app’s functionalities.
- Design the user interface: Work with UI/UX designers to create an intuitive and user-friendly and intuitive interface that will enable end users to navigate the app effortlessly.
Develop wireframes and prototypes as that will help you determine the app’s flow and navigation. Also, pay attention to usability, accessibility, and responsiveness across different devices and screen sizes.
- Develop the app: If you have entrusted the development to a chosen development firm, then all you can do is collaborate and wait till the app is done. In case you are a developer with your own team, then break down the development process into smaller tasks and start with development.
Begin with the core functionalities and gradually add more features. Also, make sure that the app gets proper integration with third-party APIs (EHR systems, and payment gateways) if necessary.
- Ensure Security and Compliance: You will need to implement stringent security measures to protect patient data and ensure compliance with relevant regulations like HIPAA in the USA. Use access controls and encryption of data transmission. You can also establish secure authentication mechanisms.
- Test and Debug: Conduct rigorous testing to identify and fix any bugs, usability problems, or performance issues. You can use multiple testing techniques like functional testing, compatibility testing, and security testing to ensure the app functions smoothly.
- Obtain Feedback and Iterate: To make your app better, you can seek feedback from healthcare professionals and potential users to continuously improve the app. Use their suggestions and iterate on the design and functionality to address any shortcomings and enhance its performance.
- Deployment: Deploy your app by submitting it to the respective app stores. However, do ensure that your app adheres to the app store’s guidelines and meets the criteria for approval.
- Support and Maintenance: The success of an app depends on proper support and maintenance too. Hence, monitor your app’s performance, gather user feedback, and make iterative updates and enhancements. Providing regular maintenance, security updates, and new feature releases will keep the app relevant and competitive.
CHALLENGES FACED BY TELEMEDICINE APP DEVELOPMENT
Telemedicine app development comes with its own set of challenges. Some of the common ones include:
- Compliance and Regulation: Telemedicine apps must comply with legal and regulatory frameworks like data protection laws and healthcare regulations. But this can prove to be quite a challenge. You may need to contact hospital bodies or lawyers to get detailed information on the same.
- Interoperability and Integration: Telemedicine apps often need to integrate with other software solutions like existing electronic health record (EHR) systems. But this can be quite challenging as healthcare systems may use different standards and protocols.
- Connectivity and Technical Issues: Telemedicine heavily relies on stable Internet connectivity. However, not all patients may have access to high-speed internet. In this case, developers need to incorporate technologies that ensure the smooth functioning of the app even with limited bandwidth, which can be pretty challenging.
- User Acceptance: User acceptance often stands as a tough challenge, especially if they’re already using some other application since most users are resistant to change. Also, a lack of awareness about telemedicine app benefits can create problems in the widespread adoption of telemedicine apps.
The good news is that these challenges can be addressed but it will require a collaborative effort between healthcare professionals, technology partners, and regulatory bodies. Only then you can procure an app that offers a seamless user experience while adhering to the necessary regulations and standards.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is absolutely clear that telemedicine app development requires careful planning, effective collaboration with technology partners, strict adherence to regulations, and a sound market understanding.
While it may all seem like a big deal in the beginning, its potential benefits make it a worthwhile investment that can position your organization for long-term success.
